Personal Video Recorder (PVR) applications require the generation of index tables in order to indicate the location and type of each picture in a video stream. PVRs utilize index tables on digital video as a means to conveniently manipulate the video data by way of its hardware and software. The index tables are often stored in a storage device such as a hard drive. By utilizing these index tables, PVRs allow a user to employ one or more indexing techniques or trick modes that include time shifting, pausing and fast forwarding video to provide a more desirable viewing experience for the user. The generation of such index tables are a key component of any PVR application.
Unfortunately, the generation of such index tables may be an arduous task for AVC (Advanced Video Coding) formatted digital video streams because the AVC standard does not require the type of each picture to be coded at the picture level.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.